H Is For Human (Garlic Is For Vampires, Book 3)

Chapter 11: Father Dearest

Beebee and Dennis made sour faces as I quickly explained our plan to them while Matt prepared the serums. He was refilling several syringes until we had a whole small pack of them. Beebee sniffed and turned the other way.

"So you want us," Dennis said, referring to him and Beebee. "To have a showdown with the guards while you take them from above. And then you want to use one of them as hostage to persuade the people holding your father captive to let him go, and if they don't, you kill the guy."

"Sounds about right," I replied.

Dennis began to laugh and I furrowed my brows at him. Why was he laughing? Then he finally stopped and simply grinned at me.

"Have fun with that, because they don't care if you kill one of them. Hold him hostage? They'll do it for you. We need something different. Something better. If you want to rescue Mason, you need something more convincing."

"I can help with that."

It came from the stairway, where Skylark stood looking at us. He glared at me for a second before stepping forward. What was he doing here? I looked at Beebee who didn't blink as Skylark looked over her and her boyfriend. Then he returned his attention to me.

"What are you doing, Bree?"

"Rescuing my father," I said. "Who just happens to be your old best friend before he turned into a vampire. What are you doing?"

"I own this place," he said. "And I just thought you'd like to know that Brendon turned into a full-on werewolf. Oh wait-you already knew that, didn't you? You both didn't bother to tell me until I had to nearly declaw the bastard while he turned last night. I guess I should cut you some slack-you're not the only liar."

"I'm just trying to save my father," I snapped. "So if you're going to give any attitude to me, you'll have to wait. We have bigger issues to deal with. And by we I meant my friends and I. My friends who will stop milking the same bullshit. Now leave. I'll get out as soon as I'm done here, and you can keep your warehouse."

I returned my focus to Matt and helped him place the syringes in his pack. Skylark waited for me to say something, but I spoke to Matt in a low voice.

"I think we'll have to take care of him right now," I said, looking down at the table. "He could've chosen any other day but this one."

"I've created a formula to make this serum airborne," he replied. "But I have to test it. I don't want Beebee and Dennis around for the next few weeks until we know how the airborne version will work. I'll need an enclosed space."

"We'll find something for your experiment," I said, looking him in the eye before looking at Skylark. "I'm sorry we're all walking on a tightrope right now. But I have to deal with this first before I deal with you and Brendon. You understand, I know you do. So please, just give me a little more time."

Skylark stared at me long and hard before looking around the room to stare at the others. Then he walked around Matt's table towards the back of the room, near the wall. There was a metal locker at the back, and from it he extracted weapons. We watched as he set them down on the ground beside the table and walked back over to the locker. He returned with bullets and stakes.

"I said to your father that if he was ever in any trouble, it would be me to help him first," Skylark said. "That's before he supposedly died. He should've just told me about his situation. I would've believed him because it's not every day a hybrid trains you to kill vampires. If you want to plan an ambush, you need trick after trick up your sleeve. You need a good performance. Holding someone-especially a vampire-hostage will not help. So, who wants to go rescue father dearest?"